Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: agora. When I read Kathryn Schulz’s rousing article about Twitter, I blogged on it. Then I pondered the meaning of a word she’d […]
Reading time: About 2.5 minutes Non-fiction writers are usually allergic to making stuff up. But, ironically, many of us struggle with making quotes more believable. Here are some tips…. Have you ever had to “make up” quotes for your boss? This is not such an unusual thing in the world
7 tips for making quotes more believable in your writing Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help writers. Today I discuss a New York Times article by Marie Myung-Ok Lee. Marie Myung-Ok Lee teaches writing at Columbia University in New
There are a zillion data points of light out there Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one written by novelist Cathy Marie Buchanan. I picked up the novel The Painted Girls by
A bobbing little nod…. Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a simile from novelist Stephen Gauer. This weekend I read the book Hold Me Now, by Stephen Gauer. A crime fiction novel — not a genre
The figurative language of Stephen Gauer… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: paladin. This Friday, November 22, marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. I remember being in grade 2 and having
Reading time: Less than 3 minutes Many of us have plenty of bad habits. But how many of us have taken the trouble to develop good writing habits? Here is something that always astonishes me: Every time I cite a principle that I’ve mentioned what feels like a million times
More lessons from my piano Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I comment today on one written by Jeanette Walls. I am in the minority when it comes to writer
Bringing those big crazy birds back home… Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors from Kathryn Schulz. I had never heard of writer Kathryn Schulz before I read her hilarious article “That Goddamned Blue Bird and
The figurative language of Kathryn Schulz… Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: minatory. I go to a lot of opera these days. Not because I’m highly cultured (and, in any case, before the 20th
What does minatory mean? Read More »
